Hutcheson Lakes

Rocky Mountain National Park

The Hutcheson Lakes are located along Cony Creek in the Wild Basin Area of Rocky Mountain National Park. Maintained trails no longer reach the lakes, but a challenging route from Pear Lake follows social and disused trails to Lower Hutcheson Lake, where cross-country travel continues through treeline to the upper lakes and Cony Lake.

The Hutcheson Lakes, Cony Creek, Pear Lake and Pear Creek are part of a program to restore native greenback cutthroat trout to its historic range in the South Platte and Arkansas Rivers

The trail fades in this big meadow just past Lower Hutcheson Lake, where intuitive but challenging cross-country travel continues along the north valley wall to the middle lake, upper lake and Cony Lake

The upper lake's outlet forms a large pool with grassy jetties that provide additional reach for anglers into prime fishing holes

Ogalalla Peak (13,138'), which stands prominently at the head of the valley, is the southernmost 13er in Rocky Mountain National Park

The route runs high up the north valley wall over Middle Hutcheson Lake, which requires some deft and diverting scrambling to reach

Bistort, a member of the Buckwheat family, is nicknamed 'miner's socks' for the pungency of its flowers

The once-maintained trail leads to the lower lake's inlet area where you'll find several good places to camp (respect marked restoration areas across the inlet; there's very suitable terrain in meadows above the lake)

A higher line up the north valley wall takes considerable effort to reach, but avoids numerous obstacles such as thick krummholz and willow patches

Small marshy ponds and sod fingers between Upper Hutcheson Lake and its large outlet pool

Finch Lake is 4.3 miles from the trailhead, a fine place for a quick break

The unmaintained route to the Hutcheson Lakes begins at Pear Lake, which was once a reservoir; the dam has been removed and the lake vicinity is in a natural state of recovery

It's tempting to closely follow the creek vs. climb up the valley wall, but travel is in fact more difficult along its path (steep and slick falls, impenetrable willow, etc)

Cony Creek near the lower lake inlet

Though navigation is quite intuitive once in the Cony Creek valley, terrain is highly variable and you'll have to make many short-term decisions on routing

RMNP's Paradise Park Research Natural Area is located west of Ogalalla Peak; this area is an ecological reserve designated for non-manipulative research, education and the maintenance of biodiversity

Lower Hutcheson Lake (10,852') comes into view on the descent from the heavily wooded ridge separating the Hutcheson and Pear Lake valleys

The Elk Tooth forms the south valley wall along the RMNP - Indian Peaks boundary; The St Vrain Glaciers and St Vrain Creek are on the other side

Flower-covered meadows on the outskirts of Upper Hutcheson Lake

Research by CU scientists Drs. Jessica Metcalf and Andrew Martin concluded in 2012 that the only population of true greenback cutthroat trout survives today in Bear Creek, a small tributary of the Arkansas River west of Colorado Springs